Hawleyville gets its post office

NEWTOWN -- In a time when post offices are being consolidated and small ones closed, the United States Postal Service is opening a new one -- to replace a recently closed one -- in Hawleyville.

The grass-roots efforts -- letter writing campaigns, petitions and appeals to state and federal government officials -- paid off Monday when the USPS signed a "long-term" lease with Hawleyville Development LLC to rent space in a building at 23 Barnabas Road, a mere three-tenths of a mile away from the old one.

We are absolutely delighted that the lease has been signed," said an excited Ann Marie Mitchell, one of the proponents of Save the Hawleyville Post Office campaign. "It's a huge success; we're the only one" having a new post office built.

One major detail -- the length of the lease -- is not being disclosed.

"It's (for) a long time, it's extremely long-term," said Steve Nicholosi, the owner of Hawleyville Development LLC.

Nicholosi is a local businessman. He moved to Newtown and started his first company, Buzzano Contracting, 22 years ago.

"We're honored that they chose our building and we're happy to be here for the community -- that the post office has a place to service Hawleyville," he said.

The other question that remains is when the building will be ready for the foot traffic of happy area residents who have saved their neighborhood post office.

"An excellent timetable would be three months," Nicholosi said.

While the space is completed on the outside, the 2,002-square-foot inside still has to be outfitted to become a working post office.

"We're getting prices on the interior build-out right now," said Mick Consalvo, the broker from Tower Realty, representing Hawleyville Development LLC. "We hope to get that finalized in the next couple of weeks, (then) pull building permits, and another 60 days to build inside."

Although he is a contractor by profession, Nicholosi said he does not know how long it will take.

"Not having experience with their vendors or products I don't know how long it will take to get those materials," he said.

But that isn't affecting the celebrations around town.

"We don't need to know the details, we are just thrilled the lease was signed," Mitchell said.